French bid to outlaw genocide denial outrages Turkey

PARIS — French lawmakers easily passed a measure Thursday to make it a crime to deny the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 by Ottoman Turks amounted to genocide. Turkey swiftly retaliated, ordering its ambassador home and halting official contacts, including some military cooperation.

Within hours of the lower house vote on the bill, which would penalize those who deny the Armenian genocide, Turkey meted out a severe punishment of its own.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a series of retaliatory measures, recalling the country's ambassador to France and suspending joint military maneuvers and restricting French military flights....